As a nurse it can be disheartening when lay persons do not understand the scope of your nursing role and responsibilities. It can be devastating when your peers do not understand your role and responsibilities as a nurse in a given field. All of the following myths and/or misperceptions have been put to me as a hospice nurse. My goal in illuminating them is to help everyone understand the significance of hospice for nurses and the patients and families they care for, in the hope of optimizing end-of-life care.
If one more nurse recommends hospice to a family that might not have before as result, or if just one nurse realizes some aspect of hospice they had not before, then my purpose of writing this piece will be fulfilled. How can you work in such a depressing environment? Many adjectives come to mind when I reflect on the hospice environment in which I work - "rewarding, challenging, compassionate, valuable, supportive" - but never "depressing."
